Ethics in Action: A "No-Talk" Workshop  

This workshop takes the study of ethics in technical communication to the next level—translating values into action. In recent years, the presenters have conducted numerous workshops focusing on the use of value analysis to clarify and resolve ethical dilemmas. Participants analyzed scenarios involving value conflicts in technical communication, formulated potential solutions, and dramatized the scenarios in role-playing. This approach remains valuable; indeed, it is one of the tools the STC Ethics Committee uses to help members bring our values into the workplace. The core values have not changed much since last year: honesty, legality, cultural sensitivity, and the like can hardly be expected to fluctuate from conference to conference. This workshop, however, starts where the others left off. Participants had better bring pencils along with philosophy—because this time they won’t just talk about solving thorny ethical dilemmas, they will actually solve them!

Allen, Lori A. and Daniel W. Voss. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>TC>Ethics

Ethics in Technical Communication  

The key to ethical action is to behave with integrity that is based on sound core of personal values.

Gokhale, Sunil. STC India (2003). Articles>TC>Ethics

Ethics in Technical Communication: A Consensus?  

Ethics within Technical Communication, as found in the literature, is discussed to determine whether a meaningful code of ethics exists or can exist within STC. Authorities are cited to support a tentative conclusion to this question.

LaBara, Ann Marie and Russell B. Stoner. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Ethics

Ethics in the 20th Century and the 21st  

Ten to twenty Fellows of the Society share their stories of ethical dilemmas from their collective storehouse of experience. Their experiences come from virtually every major industry, many minor industries, the military and academia. In just two minutes, each speaker will tell of his or her most poignant ethical challenge. Subjects vary from business ethics to communication ethics—see Code for Communicators.

Malcolm, Andrew. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>TC>Ethics

The Ethics Triple Threat: Proprietary Information in the Technical Communications Class and Practitioners' Workshop  

The use of corporate proprietary information is a major ethics issue in technical communication classrooms and practitionersâ*™ workshops. Some students and practitioners treat these settings as safe and sterile bubbles in which all present will honor confidences. Their actions cause ethical and legal dilemmas for fellow students, colleagues, and professors. Methods of preventing such dilemmas include student-employeesâ*™ following the codes of conduct established by their employers, practitionersâ*™ observing the behavioral codes set out by their professional organizations, and professorsâ*™ stressing ethical behavior in the classroom.

Jennings, Ann S. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Ethics

Evolution of a Disclaimer  

What if a disclaimer seems to be more than just a disclaimer? Readers are invited to consider the fictitious case presented and to share their thoughts for publication in an upcoming issue of Intercom.

Bryan, John G. Intercom (2006). Articles>TC>Ethics>Case Studies

The Evolving Roles of Technical Communicators within a Government Project: The Hanford Site  

This presentation describes the present-day workplace for technical communicators at the United States Department of Energy's Hanford Site. Factors that are significantly affecting the Hanford Site workplace are identified, with emphasis on the effects of these factors on the workplace activities of Hanford Site technical communication professionals.

Forbes, Christopher J. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Government

Expand your Skills in 2004

A sure way to find new work opportunities is to expand the range of skills you offer your employer or clients.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2004). Careers>Advice>TC

Expanding Beyond a Cognitivist Framework: A Commentary on Martinez’s “Intentional Learning in an Intentional World”    

One of the looming challenges educators face today is understanding how student diversity and uniqueness impacts the complex process of learning. Affective and conative factors are increasingly examined as we seek to understand how to teach and support the whole learner. The goal is to build theory that informs practice so that we may, as Martinez argues, move beyond “fuzzy, one-size-fi tsall [instructional] solutions” to instruction that is designed to match individual learning needs. Factors such as motivation, self-effi cacy, learning styles, and emotional intelligence have become increasingly common terms in educational research as we seek to defi ne affective and conative variables that impact the learning process as well as design of instruction. However, as with much of educational research, there are a vast number of complex, interrelated variables to consider and no one easy solution.

Kirkley, Jamie and Thomas Duffy. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Education>TC>Cognitive Psychology

Expanding Our Borders to New Sites of Practice  

Vital academic programs have a component in practice and an obvious connection of research and theory to the undergraduate classroom. This position (not a truth) could explain, in part, the growth of technical communication as an academic discipline over the past two decades while the study of literature, often in the same department, has declined.

Rude, Carolyn D. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC

Expanding the Borders of Our Curriculum to Include Communities of Practice  

What does the profession look like today? We see writers who specialize in running usability tests; writers who work with XML and database tools to manage single content sources for multiple delivery vehicles; writers who develop content and then design the layout of that content for every kind of print and electronic media, writers who grab the latest hot authoring tool and produce Web-based customer support. And the list could go on and on. The common denominator is writing skills.

Harner, Sandi. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC

Expanding the Scope of Technical Communication: Examples from the Department of Technical Communication at the University of Washington    

Argues that the technical communication field is expanding far beyond traditional areas of writing, editing, and production. Describes research at the University of Washington that helps clarify the expanding scope of our field.

Haselkorn, Mark P., Geoffrey Sauer, Jennifer Turns, Deborah L. Illman, Michio Tsutsui, Carolyn Plumb, Tom Williams, Beth E. Kolko and Jan Spyridakis. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>TC

Exploring Our Future: Technical Communication in the Year 2013  

Recent fluctuations in the technical communication job market prompted this examination of trends that are likely to affect our careers. STC and other professional organizations’ publications describe how we can increase the value of our profession by embracing new skills and new technologies, but they rarely examine the larger environment in which these skills and technologies might be applied. For that, the researchers examined futurist publications and more general news sources. As well, they continue to survey technical communication professionals about their past, present, and future work. This paper reveals the initial findings of the research.

Highby, Marie and Beau Cain. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>TC>Planning

Exploring Paths Toward Quality Information Products  

Information product quality has long been considered undefinable, but that must change if we are ever to improve the quality of our work beyond present levels. Information product quality can usefully be defined as measurable conformance to requirements. Requirements come from three sources: customers, clients, and professional standards. By determining our customers' and clients' critical needs, we can devise conformance metrics. This formulation can be applied in the context of many organizational quality improvement programs, such as benchmarking, continuous improvement, ISO 9000, and (with reservations) Six Sigma.

Jong, Steven F. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>TC>Quality>Methods

Exploring the Blind Spot: Audience, Purpose, and Context in "Product, Process, and Profit"

Technical communicators have longed turned to audience, purpose, and context as they analyze situations. But Mirel's article demonstrates that audience-purpose-context is too weak a framework to handle the job of detailed sociopolitical analysis: not only is it inadequate for analyzing the needs of end users, it is also inadequate for analyzing situations within the writer's organization. In this response, this paper explores the weakness of audience-purpose-context and points to alternative sociopolitical frameworks.

Spinuzzi, Clay. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Rhetoric>TC

Exporting Technical Writing Jobs

Traditionally, contractors have played an important role in the technical writing field by providing specific expertise, thereby allowing companies to focus on their core competencies. Contactors have made it possible for companies to add temporary personnel when needed ' an important benefit in a field where work output peaks periodically.

VanNorman, Maggie. Carolina Communique (2004). Careers>TC>Outsourcing>Offshoring

Facing the Frontiers of Advanced Technology, Global Integration, and Communication  

Poetic phrases emerge from the root word techne, such as pyrotechnics, advanced technology, and technical communicator. Your role is likely to expand. You might become involved with international standards or the computer network. You might create interactive multimedia information.

Geary, Carol C. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Technology>TC

A Failure to Communicate

How do you get a group of socially withdrawn, uncommunicative techies' attention? Speaking expert Anne Warfield of Impression Management, often asks them to think of the last 20 people in their company who got promoted and assess whether they were the most technically qualified. 'Almost all of them will say they were not,' says Warfield. To get ahead these days, techies need a good mix of technical and communication skills. From PC support specialists to C++ coders, techies are infamous for their lack of communication skills -- and that's a polite way of putting it. Nontechies often think of technical folk as jargon-crazed, gadget-obsessed and not particularly interested in people. An extreme characterization? Yes. Unfair? Maybe. A stereotype? Sure it is, but techies have a well-deserved reputation for placing a priority on skills -- knowledge of XML, say, or Windows device drivers -- rather than personal relationships or being able to communicate what they know to others.

Hoffman, Allan. Monster.com (2002). Careers>TC

Fanning the Creative Spark  

Creativity is critical to every aspect of our lives. Without it, we're susceptible to burnout, boredom, and (gasp!) bad writing. Creativity leads to improved productivity and innovation, superior problem-solving, and a more enjoyable life. We can enhance our creativity by giving ourselves permission to be creative, by not being judgemental, and by practicing.

Brenneman, Judy Fort. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>TC>Quality

Feminist Theory in Technical Communication: Making Knowledge Claims Visible    

This study extends the corpus of an earlier qualitative content analysis about women and feminism and identifies the knowledge claims and themes in the 20 articles that discuss gender differences. Knowledge claims are reflected in expressions such as androgyny; natural collaborators; hierarchical, dialogic, and asymmetrical modes; web; connected knowers; different voice; ethic of care; ethic of objectivity; continuous with others; connected to the world; the cultural divide; visual metaphor; and gender-free science. Built from knowledge claims, the themes in the 20 articles include gender differences in language use, learning, and knowledge construction; gender differences in collaboration; and reviews of research about gender differences and political calls for action. Although the 20 articles provide little support for the existence of gender differences, by introducing, discussing, testing, and revising new ideas about women and feminism, they serve as an example of the process of knowledge accumulation and remodeling in technical communication.

Smith, Elizabeth Overman 'Betsy' and Isabelle Thompson. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>TC>Theory>Gender

Findians Paradise: Books About Technical Writing in the English Language

The complete listing of books on Technical Writing has been revamped and now lists almost 1000 books on the subject classified by year of publication and dating back to 1961. There is also a section listing books whose dates of publication are not known.

Net People. Resources>Bibliographies>TC

Finding "A Winning Community" at the STC 53rd Annual Conference

An STC conference is a unique type of education that supplements the formal theory and ideology one can learn in school. It is a place to interact with and learn from people with a range of professions, viewpoints, and expertise. It is a place to experience passion and vision for the field as a part of an international community. But most of all, it is a place filled with resources just waiting to be used by the next eager technical communicator.

Rothwell, Kimberly M. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>TC>Community Building

Finding Solutions For Your Challenges: All Canadian Multidisciplinary Progression  

Learn lessons from this all-Canadian cast of contributors:

Finding That First Job  

Offers suggestions on finding work in technical communication for recent college graduates, professionals in other fields, and those who want to add documentation duties to their current jobs.

Block, Barbara M. Intercom (2001). Careers>Interviewing>TC